Angolan children living in villages along the Namibian border are still forced to cross the Kavango river by canoe every morning to attend Namibian schools.

This dangerous mode of transport last week claimed the life of an 8-year-old schoolgirl, who drowned at Mbapuka village in the Mukwe constituency while crossing the river after school.

The young Mayinga Kapinga was crossing the river in a canoe with eight other children when they jumped from the canoe into the river after they saw an object moving in the water that resembled a hippopotamus.

The other eight learners swam to the shore, but Kapinga was not so lucky. She was a learner at the Mbapuka Primary School.

NamPol's Regional Crime Investigations Coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Willie Bampton, said the practice is risky but the parents suffer abject poverty therefore they cannot afford other means of transport.

Bampton said her body has not been recovered yet as the incident was only reported to the police on Tuesday, more than a week later.

"Parents want their children to be in school so they do not really have another choice but to load their children onto canoes," said the deputy commissioner.

The constituency's councillor, Christian Muriki, told New Era yesterday that the river is very wide therefore the learners are forced to make use of canoes to get to school.

"During winter it's mostly windy, which makes it more dangerous and difficult to control a canoe since the water is flowing much faster. Schools at border villages are very far for the learners to walk to, hence crossing the river is the easiest and fastest way to get to the nearest school," said Muriki.

The councillor said Angolan nationals residing at border villages cross the river on a daily basis for school and to visit health centres in the area.

"There are no bridges or any other linking facilities, so there is nothing that we can do. We cannot prevent them from crossing the river and some of them even come for shopping to buy their food."

In a similar incident, Bampton told New Era that police divers are still busy with an underwater search to recover the body of Andreas Mayira, 31, who never returned home after going to the river to do laundry and take a bath on Saturday.